The Phnom Penh Police are contesting claims made by a woman who was injured in a road accident earlier this week, who said her thumbprint was used while she was unconscious to sign off on a compensation agreement.
The Transport Ministry has “never allowed” anyone to use the under-construction Phnom Penh-Sihanoukville Expressway — but motorists are using it anyway, leading to repeated accidents including a head-on collision on Monday that injured six people.
The number of traffic accidents dropped 23 percent in the first nine months of the year compared to the same period last year, according to government figures, with an expert suggesting that there had been fewer cars on the road and that stricter penalties were working as a deterrent.
A police officer has been removed from his position as Kampong Thom traffic police chief after allegedly driving drunk and crashing his vehicle earlier this month, but has not been fined for the apparent traffic violation, a police official said on Monday.
The traffic police chief in Kampong Thom province has been suspended after allegedly driving drunk and crashing his vehicle into roadway barricades last week, police officials said.
New, higher fines for traffic violations and stricter enforcement by authorities will place undue strain on motorists who are already losing income due to the pandemic-related economic downturn, civil society members and other observers said this week.
More than 30 garment workers were injured, seven seriously, when a truck taking them to multiple factories flipped over in Takeo province on Wednesday morning, an official said.
The government has raised traffic fines by as much as five times the previous rates in an effort to reduce rising roadway injuries and deaths, but officials said new penalties would not be immediately imposed to give police time to adjust.
The government has announced plans to slap traffic law violators with higher fines — regardless of drivers’ status — in an effort to limit roadway deaths and damage, but a road safety advocate cautions that fines alone will not prevent accidents.
Traffic deaths increased by 12 percent and injuries by 29 percent last year, Interior Minister Sar Kheng said on Tuesday, calling the rise an “emergency” for the country.
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